The Israeli Indymedia website is facing an investigation after publishing a soldier's picture and accusing him of murder. Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan has asked police to probe the incident.

Nitzan said the site may be guilty of slandering a public official.

The affair began when Indymedia put up a picture of a soldier under the caption “Murderer.” A subheading accused the soldier in the photograph of killing a Palestinian Authority Arab man, Basam Abu-Rahma, on Friday, April 17.

The site accused the IDF of allowing the unidentified soldier to escape punishment, and called on readers to submit the soldier's name or other identifying information if they recognized his image. Readers were also encouraged to submit pictures of other soldiers accused of committing crimes against PA Arabs.

"Soldier was not involved"
Basam Abu-Rahma was killed during a violent riot in the village of Bilin. He was hit by a tear gas canister as soldiers attempted to drive back rock-throwing protestors. Since 2004, Bilin has been the site of ongoing weekly riots in which Arabs have caused serious injuries to IDF soldiers. 

According to IDF sources, the soldier pictured on Indymedia was not involved in Abu-Rahma's death.

The Zionist student group “Im Tirzu” has called on police to probe Dr. Anat Matar of Tel Aviv University as well. The group says Matar was responsible for creating and distributing the picture, and admitted to doing so in a media interview.

Matar must face an investigation in order to warn others not to make false allegations against IDF soldiers, the group said.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva's Hebrew site, Matar denied creating the image in question, but admitted to posting the picture on an email list.

Indymedia has been accused of similar crimes in the past but the charges were dropped.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)